Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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AUTOMATED METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CREATION OF MONTAGE OF
MATCHING PRODUCTS
Field of the Invention
[0001] The present invention relates to computer-implemented systems and
methods for
automated presentation of matching products.
Background of the Invention
100021 In product marketing, vendors of products seek to present images and
descriptions
of the products in ways that entice customers to purchase the product. In
printed catalogs, a
vendor may present an image of an offered product along with a product
description and
ordering details. With the proliferation of web-based retailers, which allow a
user to browse
and order products from an online vendor of products, online catalogs are also
now quite
common.
[00031 Branding is a common form of promoting and marketing a business.
Successful
branding typically requires a multitude of marketing materials, including
printed materials
such as business cards, letterhead stationery, postcards, magnets, pens, t-
shirts and other
clothing, as well as non-printed materials such as websites, e-mails, and
other electronic
media. Successful branding is also facilitated when such marketing materials
include a
coordinated look and feel, such as the printing of a design having a common
logo, a common
image, common font, common color scheme, etc.
[00041 When a customer orders a product with a customer-specific design from a
vendors
of marketing materials and other products, the vendor may wish to promote its
other products
to the user by presenting images of the other products incorporating the
customer-specific
design to the user. Such products incorporating the same or similar graphic
design are
referred to as matching products. While a user viewing one or more matching
products may
appreciate the usefulness of having such a matching product, the user may not
fully
appreciate the impact of having a full set of matching materials to form a
package of
marketing materials unless multiple such matching products are presented
together. Typical
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online catalogs depict products individually and not as a full set of
thatching, in design, yet
differing, in product type, products.
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Summary
[0010] The present invention is directed to systems and methods that provide
automated
generation of a montage of images of matching products.
[0011] In an embodiment, a computer implemented method for generating a
montage
display of matching products includes steps of receiving a product design to
be incorporated
into a plurality of different products, the product design comprising a
template theme and a
customized portion, the template theme having one or more of template
graphics, template
images, template text and template color scheme, the customized portion
comprising one or
more of customized graphics, customized images, and customized text inserted
into the
template by a user of the template, incorporating the product design into
respective images of
the plurality of different products to generate a plurality of matching
product images, and
preparing the plurality of matching product images in a montage such that at
least some of the
customized portion of the design incorporated into each of the plurality of
different products
is visible.
[0012] It is an advantage of the invention that presenting matching customized
product
designs in a montage conveys a benefit to having multiple coordinated matching
products
with a matching look and feel for use in a marketing package.
[0013] It is an advantage of the invention that the workload required to
automatically
prepare and present in an aesthetically pleasing arrangement is significantly
reduced.
[0014] These and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will
be better
understood with reference to the accompanying drawings, description and
claims,
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Brief Description of the Drawings
[0015] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a computer system with which the invention
may be
employed.
[0016] FIGS. 2-3 and 7-11 show a sequence of screen shots that a user might
encounter
when ordering a customized product from an online vendor of customized
products.
[0017] FIG. 4 is a representation of an organization of layout memory 112.
[0018] FIG. 5 is a representation of an organization of image memory 113,
[0019] FIG. 6 is a representation of an alternate organization of image memory
113.
[0020] FIG. 7 is a screen shot displaying an exemplary embodiment of a
customization
window.
[0021] FIG. 8 is a screen shot displaying an exemplary embodiment of a
quantity
selection window.
[0022] FIG. 9 is a screen shot displaying an exemplary embodiment of a paper
stock
selection window.
[0023] FIG. 10 is a screen shot displaying an exemplary embodiment of a
matching
products window, including a montage displaying a plurality of matching
customized
products.
[0024] FIG. I I is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a
method of
operation of a system in generating the montage.
[0025] FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a method
for
preparing a plurality of matching customized product images into a montage.
[0026] FIG. 13 is an exemplary pattern and order in which matching customized
product
images are arranged in a montage.
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Detailed Description
[00271 Web-based providers of custom products, taking advantage of the
capabilities of
the World Wide Web and modern Web browsers, operate Web sites that provide
online
design services for user's desiring to create customized materials from any
computer with
web access at whatever time and place is convenient to the user. These service
providers
typically provide their customers with the ability to access the service
provider's Web site,
view product templates, and use software tools provided by the site to select
a template, add
images, text, or other content, and perform various modifications to create a
customized
product design, After the product has been designed by the user, Web-based
service
providers also typically allow the user to place an order for the production
and delivery to the
user's home or business of quantities of high quality, printed products of the
type that the
user is not capable of producing with the printer systems typically connected
to most personal
computer systems.
[00281 One network-based product design system is disclosed in co-owned U.S.
Patent
No. 6,650,433, issued November 18, 2003 and entitled "Managing Print Jobs",
which is
hereby incorporated by reference. The system discloses a downloadable editing
tool that
allows a customer to create and edit WYSIWYG ("what you see is what you get")
markup
language documents in the customer's browser. The system makes a number of pre-
designed
product templates available for customer viewing, downloading, and
customizing. The
customer can upload the electronic document to a server and place an order for
production of
the printed products.
[0029] Many users of customized products desire to use matching products that
present a
consistent image to the public, such as business cards, letterhead, return
address labels,
notecards, sticky notes, pens, t-shirts, websites, and other materials that
are visually
consistent in image, graphics, color scheme, fonts, and other features.
Vendors that make
available matching products generally seek efficient and productive ways to
promote to its
customers the vendor's other matching product offerings.
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[0030] For example, co-owned and co-pending U.S. App. Serial No. 11/082,543,
entitled
"Matching Product Marketing System and Method", filed 3/17/2005, incorporated
herein by
reference for all that it teaches, details a system which allows a product
vendor to
automatically generate reorder reminders or matching product solicitations to
its customer
base.
[0031] In another example, in co-owned and co-pending U.S. App. Serial No.
10/255,531, entitled "Supplemental Product and Method", filed 9/26/2002,
incorporated
herein by reference for all that it teaches, vendors may offer matching
customized products
during the ordering and/or checkout process of another customized product,
Thus, a user
ordering a set of business cards may be offered a set of matching return
address labels or
letterhead customized with the user's custom design during the checkout
process.
[0032] Vendors of matching products desire to present such products to a
customer in
such a way as to effectively promote the vendor's other matching product
offerings so as to
enable the user to quickly and easily order additional marketing materials
incorporating
matching designs for presenting a consistent image to the public.
[0033] Referring now to FIG. 1, an exemplary user computer system UCS 100
includes
processor 101 and memory 102. Memory 102 represents all UCS 100 components and
subsystems that provide data storage, such as RAM, ROM, and hard drives. In
addition to
providing permanent storage for all programs installed on UCS 100, memory 102
also
provides temporary storage required by the operating system and the
applications while they
are executing. In a preferred embodiment, UCS 100 is a typically equipped
personal
computer, but UCS 100 could also be a portable computer, a tablet computer or
other device.
The user views images from UCS 100 on display 140, such as a CRT or LCD
screen, and
provides inputs to UCS 100 via input devices 150, such as a keyboard and a
mouse.
[0034] When UCS 100 is operating, an instance of the UCS 100 operating system
will be
running, represented in FIG. 1 by Operating System 103. In addition, the user
may be
running one or more application programs. In FIG. 1, UCS 100 is running Web
browser
105, such as Internet Explorer from Microsoft Corporation. Other applications
that may be
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running in UCS 100, such as spreadsheet, e-mail, and presentation programs,
are represented
as applications 104. In an exemplary embodiment, design tool 106 is a product
design
program downloaded to UCS 100 via network 120 from remote server 110. Design
tool 106
runs in browser 105 and allows the user to prepare a customized product design
in electronic
form. Alternatively, design tool 106 could have been obtained by the user from
memory 102
or from another local source. When the user is satisfied with the design of
the product, the
design can be uploaded to server 110 for storage and subsequent production of
the desired
quantity of the physical product on appropriate printing and post-print
processing systems.
As will be discussed in more detail below, in an embodiment the user creates a
custom
product design by adding the user's content to a previously designed template
prepared by the
vendor or service provider. Each template is conceptually a combination of one
or more
graphics, images, text, fonts, color schemes arranged according to a layout,
[0035] While server 110 is shown in FIG. 1 as a single block, it will be
understood that
server 110 could be multiple servers configured to communicate and operate
cooperatively.
Memory 1 I I represents all components and subsystems that provide server data
storage, such
as RAM, ROM, and disk drives or arrays. Layout memory 112 represents the
portion of
memory 111 that contains the XML layout descriptions. Each layout specifies
the size,
position and other attributes of all product elements such as text containers,
image containers,
graphics, z-index values and so forth. For each different type of product,
layouts are
provided that combine different numbers of image and text containers in
different sizes and
arrangements.
f0036] In an embodiment, image memory 113 represents the portion of memory I
11 that
contains the images and related image attributes, such as the image size, the
default color
scheme associated with the image, and one or more keywords that have been
associated with
that image by the vendor, Color scheme memory 114 contains the set of color
schemes for
use in generating templates. A color scheme is a set of pre-selected
complementary colors,
usually from three to five, pre-selected by the service provider to be applied
as a group in a
template design. Instead of assigning a fixed color to each template element
having a color
attribute, each such element in the template will be associated with one of
the component
positions in whichever color scheme has been selected for use with the
template. Image
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sizing/cropping 115 represents the software tools that receive image container
size
information from layout memory 112 and image information from image memory 113
and, if
possible within established constraints, perform the image resizing and
cropping operations to
generate one or more image versions of the appropriate sizes for incorporation
into one or
more identified layouts.
[0037] An order engine 116 executes on the server 110 (as shown), or executes
remotely
but is in communication with the server 110, and operates to manage the
ordering and
checkout process when a user is ready to submit an order of a customized
product design to
the vendor. A matching engine 117 executes on the server 110 (as shown), or
remotely but in
communication with the server 110, and operates to select, and generate a
montage of images
of customized matching products. The selected set of products may be related
to the product
associated with the customized product design that was created by the user
using design tools
106, or may be selected randomly, pseudo-randomly, or by way of a more
complicated
algorithm. In any event, the selected set of products will typically not
include the product for
which the customized product design was originally created for, although this
is not
necessary.
[0038] FIGS. 2-3 and 7-11 show a sequence of screen shots that a user might
encounter
when ordering a customized product from an online vendor of customized
products. FIG. 2 is
a representation of an introductory web page 200 provided by an online vendor
of customized
products. As used herein, the term "customized product" refers to a product
offered by a
vendor that incorporates a graphical des that is designed, at least in part,
by the user through
the selection, editing, and/or manipulations of text, fonts, images, graphics,
and/or colors of a
pre-designed design. The page 200 displays and promotes various types of
products available
from the service provider and offers active controls that allow the user of
UCS 100 to select a
desired type of product for a more detailed presentation of design options. By
way of
example, FIG. 2 shows promotional images for business cards 210, standard
postcards 220,
stationery 230, oversized postcards 240, return address labels 250, and
brochures 260, stamps
270, and pens 280. Images or promotions for additional products, such as
presentation
folders, invitations, announcements, thank you cards, gift tags, and so forth
could also be
presented on the screen along with other information and links, It will be
understood that the
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invention is not limited to documents that are intended for eventual printing.
The documents
may also be electronic in their final form, such as electronic business cards,
online brochures,
websites, and templates for presentation graphics software programs. The
customized
designs may also be readily incorporated into to a wide range of products that
a user may
wish to customize, such as t-shirts, hats, and other items of clothing,
product containers,
promotional goods, and so forth.
[0039] For the purpose of an illustrative example, it will be assumed that the
user of UCS
100 desires to create a custom standard business card and, therefore, selects
the standard
business card option, for example by clicking with the user's mouse cursor on
the link
associated with the standard business card 210 image. In an embodiment, the
links are
embedded in the image so that when the user interface detects a click event on
the associated
image, a page associated with the link is loaded in the browser.
Alternatively, the link may
be a button or text displayed in connection with the image. Referring to FIG.
3, in response
to the user's selection, a page 300 directed specifically to standard sized
business cards is
retrieved from server 110 and displayed to the user. On this page 300, the
user is presented
with thumbnail images 301-308 of sample business card template designs. The
service
provider can choose to present more or fewer than images simultaneously,
depending on
available display space, the size of thumbnail images used, and the number of
available
template designs.
[0040] To give the user an indication of the types of business card designs
that are
possible, the vendor may initially present the user with a number of pre-
designed default
design examples 301-308 containing various combinations of images, graphics,
colors and
arrangements to give the user a range of visual appearances. To allow the
vendor to present
the user with candidate product templates that are relevant to the user's
intended purpose for
the cards, the page 300 may include a list 310 of selectable categories,
wherein upon
selection of a particular category (for example by clicking on the category
link), a set of
design examples relevant to the selected category are displayed to the user in
place of the
default design examples 301-308. Other types of selection means could be
readily employed.
For example, a tool 314 could be implemented as a search field where the user
types in one or
more terms to be compared with the keywords associated with stored images.
Tools could
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also be implemented to contain additional filters for allowing the user to
narrow the search
according to certain image characteristics or content. For example, check
boxes or another
menu could be provided to allow the user to request templates with only
photographic images
or only illustrations.
[0041] One or more designs 301-308 may include zero or more images. The number
of
image choices offered in a design may vary among the product types depending
on the
variety of layouts prepared by the vendor for each product type. For example,
layouts for a
relatively large product, such as an 8 %2 by 11 brochure could be designed by
the vendor to
contain a greater number of images than smaller products such as a business
card or standard
size postcard.
[0042] Referring now to FIG. 4, the contents of an embodiment of layout memory
112
will be discussed in more detail. Each of the various types of products, such
as business
cards, postcards, brochures and so forth, has a different combination of
organizational
requirements and physical dimensions. Layouts are, therefore, conceptually
organized in
layout memory 112 according to the type of product. For the set of products
shown in FIG.
2, layout memory 112 will have business card layouts 401, standard postcard
layouts 402,
oversized postcard layouts 403, stationery layouts 404, brochure layouts 405,
return address
label layouts 406, stamps layouts 407, and pens layouts 408, each of which
contains a
plurality of layouts for the associated type of product. For example, business
card layouts
401 contains a plurality of individual XN L layout descriptions 409. Within
each individual
layout description is information defining the number of image containers in
that layout, the
size and location of each of image container, the z-indices of the containers,
and the image
container that contains the dominant image. This set of information in layout
409 is
collectively represented in FIG. 4 as image control definition (ICD) 410.
[0043] In one embodiment, for example described in co-owned U.S. Pat.
Application No.
10/679,028, U.S. Publication No. 2005-0075746 Al, hereby incorporated by
reference herein
for all that it teaches, templates are constructed from a combination of
separate components
and attributes. Templates are separated into layouts, images available for
placement in the
layouts, fonts, and template color schemes. This approach allows candidate
templates to be
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assembled dynamically using images that are associated with the keyword
entered by the user
and, therefore, are likely to be relevant to the user's interests.
100441 In addition to images, many templates will have various additional
elements, such
as lines, shapes, and graphic elements. Each of these elements will typically
have one or
more associated colors. If fixed colors are assigned to these non-image
elements, or if colors
are assigned randomly, there is a likelihood that some images will have colors
that are not
visually compatible with adjacent colors, creating an unappealing template.
Assigning colors
to template components is, therefore, advantageously handled by way of a
separately
controlled template color scheme. Techniques for defining and using color
schemes are well
known in the art.
[0045] In an embodiment, a color scheme indicator is assigned to each image
group. This
indicator references a color scheme that contains colors selected by the
service provider to be
pleasing if presented adjacent to the images in the image group. In an
embodiment, one of
the image containers in each layout is identified as the container for the
dominant image in
the layout. The color scheme that is associated with the image placed in the
dominant image
container controls the color scheme used for graphics and other template
components having
color attributes.
[0046] To facilitate image and layout modularity and combinability, all
layouts are
designed with standard pre-defined image container sizes and all images are
made available
in at least some of the same standard sizes. The number of different standard
image
containers used and the exact size of each container is a discretionary choice
of the vendor or
other template creator.
[0047] The default business card designs 301-308 depicted in FIG. 3 illustrate
a few
examples of the many possible business card layouts. Layouts vary both by the
size and
shape of the image and text containers and by the location of the image and
text containers.
For this reason, multiple layouts may use the same size image container, with
each layout
having the image container located in a different position.
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[0048] Referring now to FIG. 5, the contents of image memory 113 will be
discussed in
more detail. Images are conceptually stored in image memory 1] 3 as image
groups. An
image group is a set of different versions of a parent, or base, image. The
different versions
are created by the vendor or service provider by taking the base image and
performing
cropping operations, or a combination of zooming and cropping, to create a set
of image
versions designed to fit some or all of the standard image container sizes.
Unlike layouts,
which are typically designed especially for each particular type of product,
image groups are
made available for use with most, or all, different product types. This allows
a user to present
a consistent image by creating multiple different types of materials and
products that all
contain versions of the same base image. An image group will, therefore,
typically contain
images ranging in size from small images, suitable for use in smaller products
such as return
address labels, to larger images, suitable for use in larger products, such as
stationery,
brochures and presentation folders. Because the subject matter content of some
base images
may not lend itself to certain image container shapes, it is likely that all
image groups will not
have exactly the same set of component images sizes.
[0049] Referring again to FIG, 5, image memory 113 contains a large number of
image
groups. A representative image group is indicated in FIG. 5 as image group
500. linage
group 500 has an image group identifier 501 and an associated color scheme
indicator 502.
Indicator 502 is assigned by the service provider based on the major color or
colors in the
image and identifies one of the color schemes in color scheme memory 114. Each
image
group also references a number of images 503. As mentioned above, each of the
individual
images in images 503 is a variation of a base image. Each image group in
memory 113
further has one or more associated keywords 504 provided by the service
provider to assist
the user. Keywords 504 are members of the overall universe of keywords
presented to the
user by keyword tool 314.
[0050] When an image is placed in the dominant image container in the layout,
the color
scheme indicator 502 associated with that image group is used to identify the
color scheme to
be used to create the template, If the layout has only one image container,
the image placed
in that container will, by default, be the dominant image and the color scheme
associated with
that image will be used to control the colors of other template components,
such as text and
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graphic components. If the layout contains multiple image containers, one of
the containers
will be designated as the dominant container for that layout. Generally, the
largest or most
prominent container in the layout will be designated as dominant, but dominant
status can be
assigned to any image container in the layout.
[0051] Referring to FIG. 6, an alternative embodiment of image memory 113 is
depicted.
Each image group 600 has a group ID 601, color scheme 602 and associated
keywords 605,
608, 609, as described above in connection with FIG. 5. Instead of the system
storing
multiple base image variations, only base image 603 and a plurality of image
instructions 604
are stored for each image group. Each of the image instructions 604 contains
the
information necessary to create a base image variation, for example as
described in detail in
co-owned U.S. Patent 7,339,598, issued on June 2, 2008 and entitled "System
and Method for
Automated Product Design", and in co-owned U.S. Patent 7,133,050, issued on
October 18,
2006 and entitled "Automated Image Resizing and Cropping", both of which are
hereby
incorporated by reference for all that they teach.
[0052] The use of image groups facilitates the automatic generation of
matching
customized products. When a customized product design is created by a user,
the vendor
may automatically generate and present to the user a number of images of
proposed
customized matching products that the user may be interested in also ordering.
A matching
engine 117 executing on the server 110 selects a set of products from the
universe of
available products through the server. The selected set of products may be
related to the
product associated with the customized product design that was created by the
user, or may
be selected randomly, pseudo-randomly, or by way of a more complicated
algorithm. In any
event, the selected set of products will typically not include the product for
which the
customized product design was originally created for, although this is not
necessary.
[0053] Referring again to FIG. 3, to select a desired template, the user
clicks on the Select
button in FIG. 3, associated with the desired template to arrive at the next
screen-a
customization window 700 as shown in FIG. 7. As depicted in FIG. 7, the
customization
window 700 includes a design work space 710 where a design image 701 may be
designed.
In this example, the design image 701 is the combination of a graphical image
704 depicting
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a logo image and several pre-defined text images 705, 706 displayed on a
background 708.
In the depicted example, the online vendor has initially provided default text
images 711-719
with the placeholder text "Company Name", "User Name", "Address Line I",
"address Line
2", "Phone", "Fax", "E-mail", "Web Address", to give the user an indication of
the relative
size and location of where and how the user's text entries will appear.
[0054] The product design page 700 may also include a product image 740.
Product
image 740 depicts the selected product in combination with the design image
701 and
indicates the appearance of the finished printed product. While the design
image 701 is
editable, allowing the user to select and edit the text and image containers,
the product image
740 is not editable and merely depicts the final product having the design
incorporated into
the product. When the product is a business card, as in the illustrative
example, the product
image 740 may be identical in appearance to the editable design 710. However,
when the
design in the work area 710 is to be printed on or otherwise incorporated as
only part of
another product, such as in the case of printing the design onto a t-shirt or
hat, the advantage
of displaying the product image 740 will be more apparent. In FIG. 7, product
image 740 is
an image of a business card, corresponding to the product being customized
with the user
specified information.
[0055] In one embodiment, each of the text and image containers in the
template are
directly editable in the work area 710. Alternatively, or in addition, text
entry fields 721-728
may be provided outside of the work area 710 to allow the user to customize
the text entries
of the corresponding text images appearing in the design shown in the design
area 710. The
text entered by the user may include letters, numbers, punctuation marks or
other symbols as
supported by the vendor and/or site operator. All characters of all types
entered by the user
are collectively referred to herein as "text". Images corresponding to the
user's text are
created at server 110, returned to UCS 100 and rendered by tools 106 at the
appropriate
locations 711-719 in the design, as dictated by the respective locations of
the corresponding
text containers in the design work area 710.
[0056] As described previously, when the user enters text in the text entry
fields 721-728,
or directly edits the text containers containing the text for the text images
711-718, the edits
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are sent to the server 1 l 0 which re-renders the design and returns the
updated product image
740 to the UCS 100 for display to the user.
[0057] After the user has edited the design of the product in the
customization window
700, the user presses the Next button 750 to arrive at the next screen, While
the next screen
presented to the user may vary depending on the ordering options made
available to the user
and the presentation order selected by the vendor, in the illustrative example
the next screen
is a quantity selection window 800, shown in FIG. 8. In the quantity selection
window 800,
the user designates the quantity of product for the order. For example, in the
illustrative
example, business cards may be ordered in incremental quantities, 250, 500,
etc. The user
may select the desired quantity, for example, by selection of a radio button
(as shown) 8 10 or
a checkbox corresponding to the desired quantity, or other quantity indication
means.
f00581 Upon selection of the desired quantity, the user presses the Next
button 850 to
arrive at the next screen, in the illustrative example the next screen is a
paper stock selection
window 900, shown in FIG. 9. In the paper stock selection window 900, the user
designates
the type of paper on which the business cards are to be printed. For example,
in the
illustrative example, business cards may be printed on standard paper, premium
paper, with
or without a matte finish or a glossy finish. The user may select the desired
paper stock, for
example, by selection of a radio button (as shown) 910 or a checkbox
corresponding to the
desired quantity, or other quantity indication means.
[00591 Additional screens may be presented to the user, such as
selection/design of a
back side of the business card, optional accessories and offers. In accordance
with the
present invention, at least one screen is presented to the user offering
matching customized
products presented in an aesthetic montage in which multiple images of
different matching
products are arranged relative one another such that at least some of the
customized content is
visible to the user.
[0060] FIG. 10 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a screen presented to the
user,
preferably during the ordering/checkout process of a customized product, which
contains a
matching products window 1000. The matching products window 1000 includes a
montage
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1010 of matching customized products 1010a, 1010b, 1010c, 1010d. The
methodology used
to generate the montage 1010 is discussed hereinafter. The matching products
window 1000
also includes at least one mechanism which allows the user to find out more
information
about a product offered as a matching customized product and to order such
product. For
example, in FIG. 10, the matching products window 1000 includes a pallet 120a,
120b, 120c,
120d below the montage 1010for each matching customized product 1010a, 1010b,
101 Oc,
1010d displayed in the montage 1010. Each matching customized product panel
1020a,
1020b, 1020c, 1020d includes a description of the product 1030, preferably
including at least
a thumbnail image 1032 of the complete product, a link 1034 to a studio page
which, when
loaded in the browser, allows the user to edit the customized details of the
matching product,
a quantity selector 1036, and an "Add to my Order" checkbox 1038 allowing the
user to
quickly add the matching product to the user's total order.
[0061] The montage 1010 is an image of an arrangement of matching products
that are
automatically generated at the server 110, without request by the user
ordering a customized
product, and then automatically arranged in an aesthetically pleasing
arrangement. Such a
montage 1010 is useful in conveying to the user the impact that a coordinated
took and feel of
multiple matching products can have, which may be helpful to the user in
establishing a
package of coordinated marketing materials.
[0062] After the customized product design has been finalized and product
parameters
(e.g., quantity, paper stock, etc.) and any associated matching customized
products have been
selected, the user clicks the Next button 1050 and one or more shipping and
payment
information windows (not shown) are presented, allowing the user to select a
desired
shipping address and method, and a method of payment and associated
verification
information. Upon submission of an order, the user may be presented with an
order
confirmation window (not shown) to allow the user to view and confirm the
order including
the customized product(s) selected and their respective parameters and
options, and the
shipping and payment information.
[0063] In order to present such a montage 1010 of matching customized
materials to a
user, the server 110 includes (or is in communication with) a matching engine
117 and a
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montage generation engine 118. The matching engine 117 selects products, less
the product
currently ordered by the user, from the universe of customizable products
available from the
vendor. For each of the selected products, the matching engine 117
automatically generates
an image of the selected product customized with at least some customized
information (e.g.,
name, address, image, etc.) from the original product. For example, if the
user is currently
ordering business cards, the matching engine 117 may select a set of related
products
including business card magnets, sticky notes, note pads, and letterhead
stationery. For each
related product, the matching engine 117 may automatically generate an image
of a matching
customized product comprising the related product customized with at least
some customized
information from the business card product and including common themes such as
color
schemes, images, graphics, etc. from the selected business card template
itself.
[0064] In an embodiment, the matching engine 117 is configured with related
layout
information. In an embodiment, the related layout information is an SQL
relational database
comprising layout IDs mapped to products and related product layout IDs. Thus,
a layout ID
may be assigned to a given product. Given the layout ID and product, the
matching engine
may access the relational database to identify a related layout ID of a
different product. Thus,
for example, if a business card layout having an associated layout ID is
selected by the user, a
business card magnet layout having a related layout ID may be selected and
user-customized
information such as user text entries and user image entries may be
automatically inserted in
corresponding text and image containers in the business card magnet layout.
The matching
engine 117 then renders the automatically customized business card magnet
layout to
generate a corresponding image of the matching customized business card
magnet. Because
layouts comprising similar themes (e.g., having at least some common graphics,
color
schemes, images, etc.) for different (and optionally for same) products are
associated with
one another in the Related Product Memory 119, layouts for related products
may be
identified and customized using user-customization information from other
product orders to
automatically generate matching customized products that have the same look
and feel as the
originally ordered customized product.
[0065] Once the matching customized product images 101Oa, l O1 Ob, I01Oc,
1010d have
been generated by the matching engine 117, the montage generation engine 118
arranges the
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matching customized product images into a montage that displays each of the
selected
matching products such that at least some of the customized portion of the
design
incorporated into each of the plurality of different products is visible.
Thus, while portions of
the plurality of product images 1010a, 101 Ob, 1010c, 1010d in the montage
1010 will
typically overlap one or more other images in the set of matching customized
product images,
the customized portions of the products remain visible to the user. In
addition, at least some
of the common theme elements (e.g., graphic elements, image elements, text
elements, color
scheme, etc.) shared by the templates used to create the user-customized
product design and
the automatically-created matching product designs are also visible to the
user such that a
user viewing the montage can easily perceive that the products displayed in
montage match
one another as well as the customized product that was designed by the user.
[0066] FIG. 11 describes the operation of the system in generating the
montage. As
illustrated, a system, such as the server 110 receives a customized product
design (step 1102).
The customized product design includes a standard portion, for example as
determined by a
template design, and a customized portion which may be edited and customized
by a user.
Based on the customized design, the system, for example the matching engine
117 executing
on, or in communication with, the server 110, selects a set of products for
which customized
designs that match the received customized product design will be generated
(step 1104). In
an embodiment, the set of selected products may be selected randomly from the
entire set of
available customizable products from the online vendor, or may be selected
according to a
smart algorithm. For example, in an embodiment, the products may be selected
based on
category. The entire set of products available from the online vendor may be
categorized into
several product types, for example office supplies, clothing, gifts, etc. When
the received
customized product design is for a product of one category, the smart
algorithm may search
the available products and select other products from the same category.
Alternatively, the
smart algorithm may select different products from each of the different
categories. Although
a few examples of the matching algorithm are hereby presented, it is to be
understood that the
matching algorithm may be any algorithm that selects a set of different
products that may be
automatically customized and presented to the user.
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[0067] Upon selection of the set of products from which matching customized
product
designs are to be generated, the matching customized product designs for each
of the selected
products are then automatically generated (step 1106). As previously
described, in one
embodiment, the template and customized content of the received customized
product design
are utilized to locate a related template for each selected product and to
incorporate at least
some of the customized content into corresponding image and text containers of
the related
template to thereby populate the related template and generate a customized
product design
for the selected product that matches the customized product being ordered by
the user. After
generating a matching customized product design, an image of the matching
customized
product incorporating the matching customized product design is generated
(step 1108).
[0068] Once the set of matching customized product images is generated (from
step
1108), the images are arranged in a montage so that at least a portion of the
customized
portion of each matching customized product is visible to the user when the
montage is
displayed on the user's display screen (step 1110). The montage comprising the
arranged
images may be flattened into a single layer (step 1112), stored if desired,
and sent to the UCS
100 for display to the user (step 1114).
[0069] FIG. 12 is an exemplary embodiment of a method for arranging the
matching
customized product images in a montage. In this embodiment, the montage
generation
engine 117 selects a matching customized product image from the set of
matching
customized product images that is characterized by the largest visible surface
area of the
product depicted therein (step 1202). The selected image is arranged in an
electronic
workspace, such as a document, such that the customized portions of any
previously arranged
matching product images in the workspace remain visible (step 1204). Once a
matching
customized product image is selected and arranged in the montage, it is
removed from the set
of available matching customized product images from which to choose (step
1206). The
steps (1202 through 1206) are repeated until all customized product images are
arranged in
the montage (step 1208). Of course, it will be appreciated that to maximize
the marketing
value of the montage, the arrangement of each product image in the montage
should be such
as to allow the product represented therein to be ultimately recognizable. As
such, while the
product images may be arranged such that portions of some images may overlap
portions of
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other images, the arrangement should be such as to allow more than half of the
outline of
each product to remain visible in the display.
[0070] Thus, in one exemplary embodiment, the matching customized product
images are
arranged in a sort-of "bowling pin" arrangement, as illustrated in FIG, 13,
whereby the
product images are sorted by size of image of product (where "I" in FIG. 13 is
the largest
image, "2" is the next largest image, "3 is the next largest image, and so
on), and then
arranged as shown in FIG. 13 according to size. Thus, the largest image "1" is
centered at
the top of the montage with a z-index value placing the image "1" at the back
layer. The next
largest image "2" is centered on the left edge of the product behind it, with
a z-index placing
the image "2" just in front of the z-index layer of image "1". If the image
"2" is wider than
the product image " 1" behind it, the right edge of image "2" is placed on the
center line of the
product behind it. The next largest image "3" from image "2" is centered on
the right edge of
the product behind it. If the image "3" is wider than the product image "I" or
"2" behind it,
the left edge of image "3" is placed on the center line of the product behind
it. The next
largest image "4" from image "3" is centered below images "2" and "3", with
the top edge
below the customized portions of the product designs in the respective images.
The
placement continues in a like fashion, whereby images may be continued to be
added to the
montage, growing from the top down. The z-index value associated with each
image "I"
through "n", is incremented for each image inserted into the montage.
[0071] The size of the products in the montage are preferably the "natural
preview size"
of the products, whereby given an image container, the product size within the
image
occupies as much of the image container as possible without distorting or
cropping the
product in the image. Smaller products may appear larger relative to larger
actual products
because larger products may be "capped" such that they are drawn smaller than
actual relative
size in the montage. To achieve a balanced appearance in the montage, one or
more of the
respective matching customized product images may be resized to a different
size such that
the resized matching product image is not representative of the respective
size of the
corresponding actual product relative to the sizes of the actual products
corresponding to the
non-resized matching product images.
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[0072] In an alternative embodiment, the products selected for a montage are
pre-selected
as a default set of products and associated with a given product. The pre-
selected set of
products associated with each product may vary depending on the product. A set
of empty
containers, each operating as a position holder and into which is inserted
customized user
information, may be pre-generated and updated, or populated at user's run-
time.with the
user's customized information upon receipt of the user's information.
[0073] While the invention has been described in various exemplary
embodiments, the
described embodiments are to be considered as illustrative rather than
restrictive. The scope
of the invention, therefore, is as indicated in the following claims and all
equivalent methods
and systems.
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